Royal Ghosts, Hauntings, Myths & Legends

Phantom Coach

Location: Coltishall (Norfolk) - BridgeType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 19 May (reoccurring) (coach)Further Comments: A ghostly coach and four passes over this bridge once a year. It is said to be driven by a headless Sir Thomas Boleyn, and is one of eleven bridges that he passes over on the night of his daughter Anne's execution. A headless Black Shuck is also reputed to cross this bridge once per night.

Catherine Parr

Location: Compton Bassett (Wiltshire) - Compton Bassett HouseType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 2009Further Comments: TVNZ reported that performer Robbie Williams would often feel the presence of Catherine at his home, which was once her barn, although the entity was not scary.

Possibly Mary

Location: Crossford (Lanarkshire) - Craignethan CastleType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: The headless woman reported in the castle grounds could be Mary Queen of Scots, though her relationship with the building appears to be minimal.

Walking Mother

Location: Croydon (Surrey) - Old Croydon PalaceType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Once an orphanage, it is thought the ghost of a woman that walks the corridors is a mother searching for her lost child. It is unclear whether the same entity is to blame for the wailing and screaming also reported onsite.

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Location: Culloden (Highland) - Culloden House HotelType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: Twentieth centuryFurther Comments: This shade is said to haunt the hotel, though much of the original building has been replaced.

We Three Kings

Location: Dacre (Cumbria) - Dacre CastleType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: These three figures return once in a while, re-enacting a scene that happened in the dark ages when they first met to discuss the Norse threat. Another phantom reported here is Lady Dacre - she was walled up alive with her dead lover after her husband discovered her illicit affair. Her phantom sobs and screams can now be heard.

The Black Prince

Location: Dartford (Kent) - A2 road between Dartford and BexleyType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 1940sFurther Comments: Dressed in black armour, this ghostly figure was observed several times walking along the road during the Second World War.

John Mayne

Location: Dinton (Buckinghamshire) - Folly close to A-roadType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Mayne, said to have been King Charles I's executioner, spent the last years of his life in a cave in this area after being stripped of his property and funds. His ghost is said to haunt the folly, even though it was constructed many years after his death.

Queen Henrietta?

Location: Ditteridge (Wiltshire) - Cheney CourtType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: No one can say for sure whether the ghost reported is that of Queen Henrietta, who once resided here.

Monkey

Location: Drumlanrig (Dumfries and Galloway) - Drumlanrig CastleType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: World War IFurther Comments: This yellow monkey has been seen several times, though only recognised as being a monkey recently. Two other ghosts have been seen here; Lady Anne Douglas walks carrying her severed head, while a little girl has been seen in a bedroom, floating a few feet off the floor.

Gentlemanly Escort

Location: Dudley (West Midlands) - Dudley CastleType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 1990sFurther Comments: A phantom couple are said to walk arm in arm through the gatehouse of the castle ruins. A ghostly Lady Jane Grey has also been reported on site, as has a grey lady who is thought to be Dorothy Beaumont - she may be the entity which pushed a man down the keep's spiral staircase in 1998. Finally, the clash of swords has also been heard here.

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Location: Dumfries (Dumfries and Galloway) - County HotelType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 1936Further Comments: Looking concerned, this ghost seen near Prince Charlie's room has been named as the man himself, though others say it is more likely to be another Jacobite.

Catherine Tylney Long

Location: E11 (Greater London) - Wanstead ParkType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Long died of complications from a stomach ailment following her husband's bankruptcy (although many myths incorrectly state she committed suicide after she lost her fortune to a series of bad judgements of an immoral lover). Her ghost lives on in the park. Elizabeth I's spectre is also rumoured to pass across the grounds in a coach, en route to meet the Earl of Leicester.

Location: EC1 (Greater London) - CharterhouseType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: The Duke of Norfolk, who spent much of his time and money here, lost his head after upsetting Queen Elizabeth and now ascends the staircase of the great hall. Outside the buildings, a monk has been seen flitting between the courtyards of Washhouse and Masters.

Smothering Action

Location: EC3 (Greater London) - Tower of London, as of 2009, armour on display in the White TowerType: Unknown Ghost TypeDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: The area in which Henry VIII's armour is normally stored has an evil reputation; several stories exist of guards being either attacked or feeling threatened by an unknown force. The armour is now on display in the White Tower, and it is not known whether this force has relocated.

The Two Princes

Location: EC3 (Greater London) - Tower of London, Bloody TowerType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: Princes possibly heard in 1990, Raleigh unknown, female phantom seen August 1970Further Comments: Believed to have been killed on the instruction of Richard III, the two young princes have been seen holding hands, cowering in various rooms of the tower. In 1990, two Coldstream Guards heard two young children giggling just outside the tower, accompanied by a bouncing sound. The Bloody Tower is also home to the ghost of Sir Walter Raleigh, who wanders around the area and also along the battlements now known as Raleigh's Walk. One visitor reported seeing a phantom woman in a long black dress standing by a window; the witness had time to see the figure was wearing a white cap and a gold pendant before the figure melted away.

Lady Jane

Location: EC3 (Greater London) - Tower of London, Salt TowerType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 1957Further Comments: The phantom of Lady Jane Grey once haunted this tower, though it is now over fifty years since last being spotted standing on the roof.

Procession

Location: EC3 (Greater London) - Tower of London, St Peter ad Vincula churchType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: Late nineteenth century?Further Comments: The bodies of the executed were placed under the floor of this building during the Tutor period. In 1876, Queen Victoria instructed the flagstones be lifted and all bodies removed, identified and given a correct burial - the remains over two hundred were discovered, though identification was nigh impossible. Soon after this, an officer on patrol reported looking into the church late at night and seeing a large number of people in period costume apparently walking around, following a woman who looked like Anne Boleyn. After a few minutes the scene faded away.

Henry VI

Location: EC3 (Greater London) - Tower of London, the Wakefield TowerType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 21 May, midnight (reoccurring)Further Comments: Murdered here by the Duke of Gloucester, Henry's spirit appears a few minutes before midnight, walking around the area in which he died.

Margaret's Execution

Location: EC3 (Greater London) - Tower of London, Tower GreenType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 27 May (reoccurring)Further Comments: Refusing to kneel before the axeman, Margaret Pole was chased around the area and hacked to death by him instead. This horrid scene has been witnessed several times, as have the spirits of Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey.

Isabella and Hungerford Fight

Location: EC4 (Greater London) - Greyfriars Churchyard and ruins, Newgate StreetType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Queen Isabella and Lady Alice Hungerford are said to engage in a bout of fisticuffs in this churchyard, both jealous of each other's beauty. A small ghostly greyhound is reported to run between the gravestones.

Clergyman

Location: EC4 (Greater London) - St Paul's CathedralType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: Twentieth centuryFurther Comments: Haunting the All Soul's chapel area, the holy man is wears archaic clothing, thought to be hundreds of years old. His whistling is known to be so loud it upsets people who have come to the church to find peace. St Paul's is also home to the bell Great Tom, which is said to strike incorrectly prior to the death of a royal.

Mary & Family

Location: Edinburgh (Lothian) - Holyrood House PalaceType: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: UnknownFurther Comments: Mary Queen of Scots, Lord Darnley and Mary's private secretary all haunt this building. A naked ghost, Bald Agnes, appears in the garden - Agnes was striped and tortured on the belief that she was a witch in 1592. In addition, the outer door of the Queen's apartments is said to be stained with Rizzio's blood that will not wash away.

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Location: Elgin (Moray) - Thunderton House Public House (former Royal lodging house)Type: Haunting ManifestationDate / Time: 1990sFurther Comments: The Bonnie Prince stayed at this former hunting lodge for a week prior to the battle of Culloden as he recovered from an illness. His ghost has been reported within the walls of the building. Poltergeist behaviour has also been observed in the bar area and the cellar - one member of staff watched as an invisible hand swept the evening's takings from the counting table onto the floor.